Countdown is on for Riverside Rock

There is just over a week to go before Jedburgh’s Riverside Park becomes a mecca for local music fans when it hosts Riverside Rock.

Making its debut this year, the event is proving a popular draw amongst Borderers, with organisers buoyed by healthy ticket sales and a real buzz of social media.

Riverside Rocks will unite local talent with big names such as headliners Big Country, and amongst the acts flying the flag for the Borders are a group that need no introduction.

There aren’t too many people in the region who won’t have seen Scocha perform at some point.

Although their schedule is filled with shows in different parts of the UK and abroad, Scocha never forget their roots and were thrilled to be asked to be part of the line-up for next weekend’s shindig.

They will perform at Riverside Park after a jaunt to a German folk festival this weekend and a gig in Hawick to mark the Commonwealth baton arriving in the Borders on Wednesday.

“Riverside Rock is going to be a big event for the region,” Davey Chapman told ‘WOW’.

“Being a fan of Big Country for 30 years now, it’s a big thing for me to be sharing the stage with them and I’m looking forward to seeing them perform.

“We’ve had a bit of a line-up change this year with a new bass player coming into the fold. He’s bedded in really well and given us more of a rockier sound, which we hope will go down well.”

Next Saturday’s line-up also includes The Joe Mangels, The Stevie T Band and Dark Horse.

Allan Fraser is one of a small but perfectly formed, and extremely dedicated committee who have taken the Riverside Rocks idea from the drawing board to reality. And he is in confident mood as the big day fast approaches.

“I was out and about at the weekend and everyone’s talking about Riverside Rocks,” he enthused.

“It’s great that so many people are getting excited about it.

“For us it’s not just a case of crossing the Ts and dotting the Is. Everything is going to plan and it’s shaping up to be a really great event.”

As with any event, particularly one on the scale of Riverside Rock, there is always the risk that tickets would not sell as well as expected, but fortunately Allan and his fellow committee members don’t have that problem.

“We are headed to full capacity which is great,” he continued.

“When the five of us first started talking about putting the event on, we gave ourselves a ‘point of no return’ where things would have to definitely go ahead.

“For us, that was the start of last month, and thankfully ticket sales have been particularly strong over the past three weeks.”

Right from the start, the guys behind Riverside Rock said they wanted the festival to be something for all the Borders to enjoy and it looks like its appeal has spread much further.

“Our online ticketing system lets us see where people have placed their order from and we’ve had people buying tickets from all over the UK – London, Cornwall, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Inverness.

“I have to say a big thank you to our web guru Craig Douglas who has done a smashing job with our website and social media; I’m sure they’ve played a big part in getting the word out there.

“Anyone who hasn’t got a ticket yet should get in quick or they’ll be left disappointed.”